Printing machine



A. w. HARRIES PRINTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 2, 1952 2 Sheeis-Shet 1 [All EN 7m SE m m MM m I T N I R P July W35.

Filed Dc.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 llllllmll Patented July 9, 1935 PRINTING MACHINE Arthur William Harries, Twickenham, England, .assignor to Lynton-Erooke Company Limited,

London, England Application December 2, 1932, Serial No. 645,489

In Great Britain February 1, 1932 6 Claims. (c1. 101-228) a This invention relates to rotary printing ma-' chinesand more particularly to such of the olfset type in which the transfer is effected from the printing cylinder to ablanket cylinder cooperating with anciinpression cylinder.

i The improvements hereinafter described may however with suitable modifications be also applied to machines in which the printing is efiected directly by'the printing and impression cylinders.

Aclifficulty experienced with printing machines and particularly in connection with oft-set printing is that of printing sheets of varying lengths.

Themachines are usually constructed with cylindersnof standard sizes which while permitting l printing of full sized sheets corresponding to the effective printing surface of the cylinder and also of smaller sized sheets in certain definite proportions thereof make noprovision for sheets of sizes that-come, outside these limits. Thisinconvenience is particularly apparent in.the printing of invoices and the like in continuous sequence and frequently leads to considerable waste in cutting down the sheets, after they have passed through the machine, to the particular lengths required.

The main object of the present invention is to obviate this disadvantage by the provision of means whereby sheets of-any length less than thatof the effective printing surface of the print- ;iaing cylinder may be passed through the machine and printed without waste. 1

According to this invention the circumferential surface of the impression cylinder is formed with a segmental protuberance that projects above the surface and the circumferential'length of which is greater than the depth of any heading or other matter to be impressed on, or transferred to, the sheet. 7

The impression cylinder so formed is adjusted in the machine relatively .to the blanket and printing cylinders in such manner that the gaps in the two latter cylinders overlap and that the projecting segment of the impression cylinder overlaps to a corresponding degree the gap in the blanket cylinder, the extent of the overlap being determined by the length of the sheet and the depth of the heading to be printed thereon.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into practice reference may now be made to the accompanying drawings in which similar reference characters relate to corresponding parts in all the figures and in which:--

Figure 1 shows a construction according to the invention applied by way of example to a rotary printing machine of the offset type.

Figure 2 shows the printing, blanket and impression cylinders in elevation and part section and Figure 3 is a plan View of Figure 2, these two figures being to a larger scale than Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the impression cylinder drawn to a still larger scale.

As shown in the drawing a printing cylinder a, blanket cylinder 1) and impression cylinder 0 are mounted on their respective shafts d, e and f carried in suitable bearings on the frame g of the machine and are rotated by a belt drive froma motor h and inter-engaging gear wheels 16, m, n and o.

A segmental plate p is secured to the outer surface of the impression cylinder 6 by means of screws q. By securing the plate p in this manner the surface of the plate 19 projects above the surface of the cylinder 0 and constitutes the impression surface. l

. As previously stated it is necessary to adjust the impression cylinder 0 relatively to the blanket cylinder 1) so that the segment determined by the size of the sheet and depth of the matter to be printed thereon and with the present construction this is preferably effected in the following manner.

The cylinder 0 is bolted to the gear wheel m, through which it is rotated. by the meshing therewithof the gear wheel. k, by the cheese-headed. bolts 8 the heads of which engage in a corresponding formed circular groove u in the end of the cylinder which groove is concentric with the cylinder shaft 1. By slacking back the nuts 11 on the bolts 3 the cylinder 0 can obviously be rotated as desired to adjust the position of the segment as relatively to the gap r in the cylinder 1). A rectangular clearance w formed by an enlargement of the groove it permits withdrawal and replacement of the bolts s.

There will naturally be in the course of the continuous rotation of the three cylinders a, b and c a printing period and a non-printing period. The available impression surface on the impression cylinder 0 is obviously limited by the extent of the surface of the projecting segment 10 and the actual circumferential length to which the impression is transferred from the blanket cylinder 1) is limited to that part of the segment p which comes into contact with the blanket adjacent the gap 1' the remainder of the surface of the segment 10 coming opposite to the gap 1". (Figure 2.) 7

It will therefore be necessary to regulate the 55 paper feed accordingly and to provide for a cessation in the feed during the non-printing period, this being preferably effected by means of the paper feeding mechanism described in the copending application Serial No. 645,487 filed December 2, 1932 for Paper feeding mechanism, and Patent No. 1,954,734 which issued April 10, 1934.

What I claim is 1. In a printing machine, a cylinder, a printing plate on the cylinder having a gap in its surface, an impression cylinder, a segmental plate, means for securing the segmental plate to the surface of the impression cylinder, said segmental plate cooperating with the surface of said first mentioned plate, and means engaging an end of said impression cylinder to adjust the impression cylinder so that the position of the segmental plate may be changed with respect to said gap.

2. In a printing machine, a cylinder, a printing plate on the cylinder having a gap in its surface, an impression cylinder, a segmental plate secured to the surface of the impression cylinder, said segmental plate cooperating with the surface of said first mentioned plate, said impression cylinder being angularly adjustable so that the position of the segmental plate may be changed with respect to the gap, and retaining means engaging an end of said impression cylinder for holding the impression cylinder in its adjusted position and permitting the angular adjustment of said impression cylinder, said means including an annular groove in an end of said impression cylinder.

3. In a printing machine, a cylinder, a printing plate on the cylinder having a gap in its surface, an impression cylinder, at segmental plate secured to the surface of the impression cylinder, said se mental plate cooperating with the surface of said first mentioned plate, said impression cylinder being angularly adjustable so that the position of the segmental plate may be changed with respect to the gap, retaining means for holding the impression cylinder in its adjusted position and permitting the angular adjustment of said impression cylinder, said means including an annular groove in an end of said impression cylinder, and a plurality of angularly spaced apart bolts engaging in said groove.

4. In a printing machine, a cylinder, a printing plate on the cylinder having a gap in its surface, an impression cylinder, a segmental plate carried by the surface of the impression cylinder,

said segmental plate cooperating with the surface of said first mentioned plate, said impression cylinder being angularly adjustable so that the position of the segmental plate may be changed with respect to the gap, retaining means for holding the impression cylinder in its adjusted position and permitting the angular adjustment of said impression cylinder, said means including a cheese headed bolt and a correspondingly shaped annular groove in an end of said impression cylinder adapted to receive and confine the head of said bolt therein.

5. In a printing machine, a cylinder, a printing plate on the cylinder having a gap in its surface, an impression cylinder, a segmental plate mount ed on the surface of the impression cylinder, said segmental plate cooperating with the surface of said first mentioned plate, said impression cylinder being angularly adjustable so that the position of the segmental plate may be changed with respect to the gap, retaining means engaging an end of the impression cylinder for holding the impression cylinder in its adjusted position and permitting the angular adjustment of said impression cylinder, said means including a cheese headed bolt and a correspondingly shaped annular groove in an end of said impression cylinder adapted to receive and confine the head of said bolt therein, said groove having an enlargement for permitting the entrance and withdrawal of the head of the bolt to and from the groove.

6. In a printing machine, a cylinder, a printing plate on the cylinder having a gap in its surface, an impression cylinder, a segmental plate mounted on the surface of the impression cylinder, said segmental plate cooperating with the surface of the first mentioned cylinder, said impression cylinder being angularly adjustable so that the position of the segmental plate may be changed with respect to the gap, a gear wheel for rotating the impression cylinder, a plurality of angularly spaced apart cheese-headed bolts, said impression cylinder having a correspondingly shaped annular groove adapted to receive and confine the heads of the bolts, said bolts passing through said gear wheel, and nuts on said bolts and engaging against said gear wheel to hold the bolts in place and clamp the impression cylinder to the gear wheel in adjusted position relative to the said first plate.

ARTHUR WILLIAM I-IARRIES. 

